Are we born smart or do we get smart? This is a question that many people seem to be debating over the years. A lot of people think that the kids today are either born being a smart student and that they cannot become smart. Others may think that any child can become a smart person as long as they put their mind to it. Also, studies have shown that kids in the United States are not as smart as foreign children. A study that Jim Stigler did proves this theory. He designed an experiment where he came up with some insolvable math problems, and then gave them to both Japanese and American children. It turned out that the American kids gave up on the problems very easily and the Japanese kids tried harder and harder to find a solution to the problem. This shows us that the Japanese kids were willing to go the extra mile and try to find the answer, while American kids gave up if they didn't get it at first.
In my opinion I believe that people are both born smart and they get smart as well. Obviously there are the children that tend to do well on everything that they do in school. Without trying they are able to get straight A's in school. These children, I believe are born with that raw talent of being smart. This is a small portion of what makes up the children's population. There are many other kids that have to work hard in order to get good grades, and this is where most kids fall under. Then there are the kids that don't try in school because they believe that if they don't understand it at first then they are never going to understand it. In this category there are a number of children that apply to this rule.
In today's world I think that more and more kids are buying into the fact that if you are not born smart, then you will never be smart. Years ago, kids always did try and they didn't give up so easily. This has to do with the fact that the teachers in our school system aren't trying to teach the kids that don't understand something.